Stetmann and the World-Changer
by SuperMudz
Summary: One-shot. Stetmann and his crew explore an unknown world full of life, surprisingly similar to another world.
1. Chapter 1

STETMANN AND THE WORLD-CHANGER

by SuperMudz

* * *

PROLOGUE

The ship crashed. The strange gravity vortex had caused the engines to fluctuate and seize up, Stetmann instantly understood the science of what happened, even if only in general terms. It was his admittedly derring intellect that had convinced Raynor to allow him to form part of the crew. And he had had opportunity like never before. Despite the dangers, he never lost sight of that, he was very fortunate.

The strange pods flourished everywhere on the crashed ship's deck, their pod like tentacles seeking out the crew-members. Security doors slammed shut and sirens blared, as marines held their stations and moved about uncertainly as to what to do.

They ushered the crew, and held frantic communications, and mostly just ended up running from the things as they encroached. The scientists tried to find weapons in laboratory equipment, no-one wanted to be unarmed, and they were smart enough when it came to it.

Gauss rifles were of particularly little use. Whatever animals these things had evolved to hunt, they had a remarkably useful profile for humans. They started looking for and breaking out the flame-throwers, which were slightly more effective, but not enough.

Napalm had incinerated even Zerg to ash. These things seemed to have some kind of natural defences not yet encountered by any. It was a different life. It would have been foolish to say these things presented more danger than the Zerg, but they certainly presented a more _immediate _danger.

Zerg and native fauna and flora were now warring for dominance on this world.

(*)

Raynor contacted him over the inter-systems communication – told him to sit tight, he'd send in some evac.

(*)

* * *

Chapter One

_THE LANDING_

* * *

_Two weeks ago…_

Stetmann saw life on this world. Flowers on tree-like entities, profuse in colour and limbs and leafy out-brush, as far as the eye could see.

He had named the world "Xixiv", a slightly shorter connotation for the symbols numerologing it on his planetary catalogue. Only a few ships had been out this way, and except for a perfunctory probe or two by a passing science vessel – it had largely gone unexplored.

Very peculiar, Stetmann had thought – it was rich and abundant in life. The only reason could be that for some reason, there were none of the profusely common mineral deposits to be found on this world. The system's charter didn't indicate any, but it didn't have a geologist's survey.

_Very, very peculiar._

His own science vessel, the _Aurora, _captured and granted to him by the semi-official liaison of Valerian and Raynor shortly after the events on Char, was in high orbit, conducting scans around the clock 24/7 under his orders.

The first thing he had commanded to do with the grand opus to science, was utilise its formidable Dominion laboratories to keep Kerrigan under surveillance.

Raynor seemed to trust him, and only occasionally had it occurred to Stetmann to wonder why. Certainly, all he really cared about was his pursuit of science, and he and Jim had quickly become fast friends, if so it could be called- but Kerrigan was a personal and sore point with Stetmann he had never ever pressed Jim with, not with any amount of curiosity.

The chance to study someone who had been transformed into such a being, by the Zerg, was an incredible opportunity – and Raynor had had some bad experiences with that sort of thing.

Stetmann felt rather pleased. It meant, after all, simply that Jim did trust him to run the equipment. He would never pry, of course, his social graces might not be entirely up to snuff, but he knew enough to leave such things in the hands of people such as Hanson – not that she was around any more. She was certainly more experienced in the field of zerg infestation

She had been rather rude, though, he thought. She was just a little condescending towards his laboratory. _Still, nice to have someone around who was interested, _he thought brightly. Though that was a little arguable – they had interacted only professionally, and surprisingly, not due to his own usual reclusiveness when given a problem to dwell on.

Her insights had been profound, and occasionally he still wished for those few days before Char when they had the opportunity.

It was several days before they encountered their first mystery.

He watched them through the scanner. It was the fourth or fifth sighting – they had alerted him immediately when they showed up. Strange. Their outline was man-like, but their limbs were too large, and swinging. They moved and scuttled just out of sight, larger than any ordinary man outside of a suit. Several marines in power-suits approached the trees, their eyes steady and searching through the armoured plate-glass, looking for the enemy. There was nothing but a brief rustle.

After a while, they simply put up a perimeter and started disembarking the team. They erected a few defensive turrets, hand-held cannons to sweep the trees at the first sign of trouble. They were supposed to keep a secure landing site.

"Could they be some kind of native humanoid life?"

"It'd be a first if they are. Most life out here in Koprulu, for reasons unidentified, tend to conform more to rhynadarian proportions. A lot of heavy, squat life-forms – grazers. Plenty of strange life-forms on the rim, but nothing quite like that. I would say infested terrans, just as a matter of assumption, but I'm not picking up anything on the scanners, and there's no sign the Zerg have touched this world."

He sent several bots out to explore- their light blinking as they left the great, wallowing colony ship.

He was part of the exploratory team trying to find new worlds and colonies for the beleaguered citizens of Koprulu, those like Hanson's people, searching for a new home out of the direct warpath of the Zerg. Have a chance to continue life outside of the reach of the Zerg.

It was not a circumstance likely to last, but if things turned out well, then it would be a future well assured.

This initial sighting hadn't been promising in that regard.

His own team wasn't using gauss rifles, but concussive rifles, that discharged bolts of kinetic force that could blast life-forms and left them wary and stunned, but relatively unharmed after they recovered from the effects.

It wasn't Stetmann's way to harm life without good reason. He had come up with the design himself, and it was quickly adopted by laboratory personnel – he had been quite flattered.

Of course, this was his team now, and he had to decide.

APCs rumbled out, with escorts of marines – the lab personnel led the way. The marines would only intervene if a truly life-threatening situation was to occur. It seemed organised, the way the squad leaders had it handled – Stetmann wasn't too worried.

Raynor would be entering the system and making his own landing in less than twelve hours, and Stetmann planned to have as much set up as possible by then. His droids were in their cradles ready to clear any new landing sites and perimeter fences he wanted.

(*)

He spotted something. Strange floating things, almost like plant pods, but more transparent, like a jellyfish. He had read enough science fiction to be wary of things like that, floating with eerie calm over a dangerous world full of hostile life-forms. There could be a reason for their apparent passivity.

He ordered a perimeter of auto-turrets, and configured their perceptual matrices, himself. He already had a good idea what they should look for.

They were lumbering thoughtless brutes, apparently responding to some kind of unknown communication or instinct. Another kind of herd instinct no-one had seen before – before the Zerg. They were strong as hell, and tore through the protective force-wires. A few of them fell, stunned, smoking claws, but the rest lumbered through easily. They didn't seem to have a reason for it, it was simply there and they reacted.

If they found the food depots… The alarm sounded. _Shit. _It wasn't like him to swear, but he did, feeling the unusual epithet in his mind.

(*)

"Fascinating," he said, peering closer at it. It appeared to be a small piece from a protoss reaver. He said as much to his colleagues.

"How can you tell from that little piece?" they wondered. Stetmann had been studying protoss and zerg architectures and various paraphernalia for years now – he had developed a real knack for piecing together puzzles like that.

"The real question is what is it doing on this world?"

"Maybe it used to be a protoss colony?"

_Obvious, I suppose._

"Does it tell us anything that we've discovered something that can be dated to one of their reaver war machines?"

"Well – " Grous scratched his beard at the question. "No-one's ever really been sure how old those things are in the first place. Analysis couldn't date their composition within any reliable range – some of their structures are thousands of years old."

Stetmann remembered that too. There had been a great controversy about how the protoss were getting these buildings from world to world. It had been remarkable to discover their vehicle of conveyance was space-time itself – they literally warped them from world to world via an energy transmission network never fully understood or tracked.

The protoss had been almost terrifying in the remarkable and strange things they had achieved, but it had certainly been a relaxed atmosphere when it turned out the protoss were, at least in intention, a benign people. At the least after events had turned out the way they had. Stetmann couldn't say any more than that, other than he was grateful on behalf of all humankind that Raynor had been there with them. Whatever had happened between them, it had apparently left the protoss with a favourable impression, which they all could do with.

The protoss might even need the terrans – now that they were refugees from their own world, much like the terrans were.

A frightening consequence of its own. The protoss had seemed so powerful – invincible to the greatest weapons – untouchable in their great warships that appeared and disappeared despite all them might the terran empire could muster to greet them.

They knew more about the protoss now, but there had been more questions with the answers about that mysterious race. All anyone really knew is that they were united with humanity in their struggle against the zerg, just… not necessarily at humanity's beck and call.

He knew there was hope that the protoss would devise some fantastic weapon to destroy the zerg – but given their withdrawal from sight, the terrans couldn't rely on them for defense. An opinion quickly reinforced when the first zerg reappeared and began consuming outlying human worlds.

Wherever the protoss were – they were not within range to aid, or they had their own problems. He didn't believe they were callous to human extermination – not now.

Even the protoss might need allies. And terrans weren't without resources of their own.

Stetmann had spent much of his time listening to the Umojan networks. They had been tracking as much as they could of the protoss presence, the occasional blip of one of their devices passing within scanner range, just a glimpse too deep in space to be sure of. The occasional relic, or remainder of some colony that once existed, was left behind, or the sites where their structures were recalled.

Entire research expeditions were conducting field tests, measuring and studying whatever energy signatures were left behind.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

_THOSE WHO FORGET_

* * *

The sergeant accompanied him to the site – a suspicious reading on the survey scans. Looked like a human outpost. And it was. A surprisingly discovery.

"Wow, these gunships must be over a decade old," she said, inspecting them. "Just left to get covered in dust – that's a real shame."

"So this used to be some kind of human military outpost? Why didn't we ever know? Did they know the protoss were on this world?"

"I never heard of anything like that until a few years ago. Once we knew about the protoss, you know, everyone got excited to go out and start finding what they could. Even with the zerg invasion, there was plenty of folks ready to go digging. Uncovered a bunch of really strange stuff too, you should have seen it."

He might have, actually, but he didn't say so. He spent a lot of time in that particular business, himself.

"Can we use them?"

She shrugged. "Sure. Probably still have the command codes in any old command bunker these days. Just ask Terry, he'll dig them up, or call it in to someone."

"So why were they abandoned? Why isn't anyone manning this outpost, and why didn't we know about it?"

"Not a clue. There doesn't seem to be any sign of a disturbance. But I figure this is just a supply cache. Left out here, and never used."

"Doesn't that mean there should be a more major settlement around here? Where is it?"

She shrugged. "Beats me. Not really my department, sir."

"Fair enough." He scratched his neck, and then turned on the radio to talk to the people's whose department it was.

Afterwards, he looked at her and said. "Well, if we have to defend this place, that'll help I suppose. Find some pilots for those things."

"Aye, sir."

(*)

After a while, he got a message from his observatory section. They had spotted a protoss device. About a hundred klicks north, and ten thousand into space (they found the geometry more convenient). One of their exploratory sensor devices, it was presumed – years of exploring space had netted more than enough to have rumours of these things, brief, flitting, disappearing, just hints, over a dozen worlds in space. Enough to piece together a picture that the protoss watched over many worlds.

Including this one, it would seem.

Some time later, they received another message, and it was clear. _You are in danger on this world, leave immediately._

And he would realise that almost too late. He returned to his science lab, it did not take long – making sure it would be ready to transport specimens.

There had been a bunch of tanks specifically for ghost rehabilitation. Kerrigan had used them. Raynor often wasn't to be seen, and Stetmann suspected the reasons why. Besides the fact that maybe someone had to watch the door. Probably not much concern for that with a psychic. Whatever change she had undergone, Stetmann had no reason to think it had removed that ability. Although he would liked to have known.

The gunships would not last long, but they'd hold off the protoss. For a little while.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

THE MIRA PROBLEM

* * *

Horner had entered orbit at Mach Twelve. Stetmann had made it sound urgent.

Mira had been one of the ones Stemann had been able to hire for… "security" work… they had decided to call it. With Raynor's fleet often employed, they had to turn to local sources, in this case, akin to pirate mercenaries, to fill the gaps. Finding places for colonists to live was not easy, with both the Zerg and the Dominion crawling down their necks.

Mira had practically drafted him. Insisted she had something of use, and that she required Matthew's assistance. He swore half the reason Raynor agreed is because he thought it was funny.

He had "assisted" her into bringing at least six colonies into full service now – and he had to admit, the work was both necessary and satisfying. It had strengthened the lines of supply for Raynor, for the colonists were all too happy to make use of their resource trains to help out. Quite unintentionally, they had created a network, both of supply and loyal allies. Recruitment had suddenly become a lot more rewarding, Raynor was famous among the colonies, and rescued ones no less.

Bringing his training and expertise into service for pirates and vagabonds, he sighed. He could hardly make an argument out of that at this stage.

It had been quite an argument to convince him this time, but he had – Mira was quite smug about it. She had insisted it would be worth his while.

"Alright, Mira," he sighed. "It looks like you have something to work with here."

"Take a look at my computers, if you like," and her tone was teasing about it.

He did occasionally feel a surge of affection for the strange lady, guarded by the fact that he did not know if she was serious, or how serious she was. He had assumed it was simply a lark to embarrass him, but if so, she was doing it quite effectively. And he suspected she wouldn't tell him either way.

And so all of their encounters were like this, tense, with him wondering about her strange behaviour. And usually it worked out to something like a well done job. Funnily enough.

He could do without the pressure, but if there was one thing he knew, it was dealing with pressure. Maybe not like this, though, he thought uncomfortably.

Give him Zerg any day. With an army, he knew how to deal with them. When to attack, and how, when to retreat, when it was time for an orbital strike, or a wraith squadron.

Mira had forces of her own, and it was an unlikely alliance that had nonetheless been of benefit to Raynor, and so they were… forced with each other… almost. She seemed to find it a ripe opportunity to make fun of him, but it wasn't always bad. Sometimes she could be almost pleasant. In those moments that you forgot, and wondered how you ended up in the situation in the first place.

Stetmann had located a temple, not too far from his base camp – it had been obscured with jungle and apparently the structure itself exuded a sort of unidentifiable cloaking field that made it impossible to detect with scans. They had in fact come across it entirely by chance, following the strange natives.

There had been a few incidents, some assaults, but Stetmann seemed to have gotten it surprisingly well in hand. Maybe not up to his own standards, but it was a very good start. He would fill in the rest himself.

The temple looked fine from here, he mused. The assault ships were making formation around them. She wouldn't say where she got them.

She was certainly an enigma in many ways. Not that he had ever had time for… well… girls, he supposed. It had, although it sounded foolish to his ears, broken his heart in a way, when he saw Raynor lose Kerrigan. Although it quickly became a situation neither of them could deal with in any terms.

In some ways, it was none of his business, but he still had a war to fight. With Raynor knocked out of the loop, he had to make sure he was still running a tight ship until he could recover. There was nothing to be ashamed about it – sometimes life dealt you a heavy blow, and you needed the time to deal with it back. And Raynor was one of the toughest sons of bitches he had ever known. It had been Raynor that was the leader, not him, when the time counted it to be right. And he was – Horner had been trained and had seen an entire cadre of generals and military commanders, and he knew it when he saw it – Raynor was a natural commander.

Raynor had always been impressed with Horner, himself, so there was a mutual respect. They had always worked together extremely well. It was hard to come by that experience – and that was one of the most valuable commodities in the fight against the Zerg. It was what dictated when and how you died, or if you lived. That and a heavy dose of luck.

First mistake every brash young commander made, thinking intelligence alone would make them stand out. But intelligence was based on experience. Experience and humility, and oh boy had he learned a lot about the latter. He thought he was already pretty humble, but seeing some of the things he had seen…? It took the breath away.

Mira wasn't too bad, he admitted to himself – stealing an awkward glance, as the glow from the star console outlined her above the shoulder and around the waist somewhat (it wasn't his intention, but there it was). He had kept his curiosity in check there, too, though he had a few tongue-in-cheek lines about it.

And not long after, he got the news he had been afraid of. A Zerg probe had been spotted, landing in the jungle only a few hundred miles away. The Zerg had arrived on this world. He sighed. That pretty much scratched it, unless they moved quickly.

This world was pretty out of the path of all major strategic passages between terran and Zerg spaces, but the Zerg could go pretty much anywhere they wanted. If they took an interest in this one, it would be completely unviable. They were hoping to find a world the Zerg had completely bypassed.

Stetmann thought the world had some intriguing natural defences, but natural defences wouldn't be of any use against the Swarm.

(*)

Horner inspected one of Stetmann's new compounds later – one of Raynor's requests. He stood before the odd collection of tanks, glowing neon green under the lighting conditions – familiar, but with some obviously new equipment standing about here and there. Many of the crates marked "supply 3", which he had signed the work for himself – so he knew where it came from.

"What's this?"

"A new spectre program. I want to see how they perform."

"Less hazardous chemicals, I expect."

"You expect right."

Horner thought back to when it began – not long after their begrudgingly necessary alliance with Mira. He hated waited in the antechamber, cooling his heels, appreciating the pleasant greenery and small amenities that had surprised even him for their class. Asteroids drifted by in the observation "window".

Then they had gone to meet Mira Han – infamous woman. Pirate, smuggler – with as much right to her own reputation as James Raynor, at least in these parts. If you wanted to do business, it was best to start with her.

Mira's "home", of sorts – a resource rich asteroid belt, home to hundreds of murderous thieves and scoundrels, all carving out a living for themselves on the edge of Dominion law.

There were a dozen and five different illicit operations out here – but they had been swiftly passed over by many different authorities, as anything that held promise as a weapon against the zerg took priority to a lot of things, even human lives.

He came back to the present, programming the co-ordinates for a dozen strikes and flight sweeps and sonar scans.

For a moment his stomach had lurched, and he wondered if Mira had abandoned him. Not that he wanted to go picking up Raynor's PTSD, but…

"Why so little faith, Matthew?" came her voice over the intercom. And he stopped himself before breathing a sigh of relief out loud – which led to a few very awkward moments of him trying to breathe unnoticeably. She had arrived with her Sky Raiders juts in the nick of time. She must had had them hiding out in orbit, hiding in the asteroid belt. Clever, he decided as soon as he realised.

With the high acceleration, the missiles struck the ground with alarming force, having achieved a much greater spread from a much higher altitude. The Zerg nest was utterly bombarded in explosive shards, and great gouts of alien infra-biology scattered in clouds.

And then set on fire.

It was as neat a burn out as he had ever seen.

"Just to impress you, Matthew," she said, as if reading his mind.

"Well, I am," he said grudgingly.

(*)

He stood there, staring up at the tree, squinting. He shifted. Adjusted the collar of his suit a little. Frowned and held up an imaging pad for a moment – then let it drop – no less squinting than before. At last he turned and spoke to his escort.

"I'm not sure what kind of tree this is."

"A big one?"

"I've been cataloguing trees all over the sector, and this is the first I've found that doesn't fit any taxonomy I know."

"Wow, quite a hobby, sir." The marine commented, chewing on a tooth-pick.

_I was a magistrate before this, you know, you sarcastic prick, _he didn't say.

He was often surprised, where did Raynor even find all these recruits? He was often part of it himself, but it seemed like he scrounged them up from all over the galaxy. Conscripts straight out of the colonies, half of them even without equipment. And of course it was his job to find them some.

They were often hitting Dominion outposts to resupply their wayward fleet – they had gotten good at it, enough so that they weren't as worried about casualties anymore.

Lately, when they showed up, they often got a resigned half dozen officers surrendering, their security force pacified. They had tried increasing their security, but Horner and Raynor just increased their methods to match. They had time and patience. Often it was as simple as gas in the ventilation system – no-one knew when and where they'd be, and they had the force of an entire rogue flotilla at their command.

In and out before the battlecruisers could even show up. Of course, they could only hit the ones without their own stationed garrison of battlecruisers or too heavy wraith patrols. Stationary targets were the easiest. Zero complications, made it simple to make a plan.

Horner had his own wraiths and probes do recon of local asteroids and worlds to make sure the Dominion wasn't hiding a fleet. He was a qualified commander of the erstwhile previous terran government, after all – he knew what to look for.

In the past, Raynor had spent so much time in the thick of it, that any time he could kick back with the men in the mess had been a blessing to their morale. His status had been a little uncertain at time, but he certainly had the charm to get them all working.

But for the past few years, the cantina had been the site of his brooding, and drinking to soak his scars, and people avoided him more than talked to him. They paid attention when he was calling them into the fight, but otherwise, it wasn't the way it used to be.

(*)

An entire sector away, if he had known it, Horner was the subject of a curious conversation even now. Approaching at warp speed, James Raynor, commander of Raynor's Raiders (as if any could forget), was waiting it out with his crew in the mess – passing the time with some conversation. He had mobilised as soon as he had gotten the signal. Stetmann was a good kid and he didn't want to leave him out in the lurch.

"I think he's afraid if he talks to her, he'll ruin what relationship they have, whatever it is," she scoffed, her expression torn between amusement and curiosity. "Silly guy."

"Yeah, poor guy doesn't know what to do," Raynor said, kicking back.

"I see you're real broken up about it."

"Let him see what it's like for a change," Jim said with a bit of a cocky expression. And it took a moment to realise Jim actually meant it the normal way people meant it.

Unfortunately, everyone grew hushed anyway, thinking about it.

"Kerrigan's fine, thanks for asking," he scowled. And tossed aside the cup after a second.

"You uh – need any help?" Cade said.

"What? Like changing her pillows or something?"

"Heck, I dunno – it's important to you, right?"

Jim nodded. "Yes. Yes it is." And he seemed relaxed like he hadn't been in a long time. For a moment, there was none of the worry and frustration that had marked his face so often for the last few years they had been fighting with him.

Not foolishly, but it was there. They knew it was the end of a long road for him.

Jim for his part, was thinking. He had had his doubts, but he realised, when you put all that aside – they had done pretty well.

First thing he needed to do was get Sarah somewhere safe, with people smart – away from Mengsk. That was the next problem to deal with – but he was in the seat, and the hardest part was already done. Even if just for now.

And Sarah… he wondered. He didn't really know what the future held for… her. But either way – at the very least he didn't have the Zerg to worry about anymore. Mengsk would be gunning for them – but Raynor felt almost optimistic about it.

Umoja. That would be the place to start. Having Valerian on their side was all the muscle they'd need where the Dominion was concerned. He would be their most powerful ally, now.

_Should be interesting, _he thought to himself.

(*)

The ship had crashed. He had tried to leave and the planet had clawed him back. The experiments were too uncontained. Horner had yelled at him – the fleet had barely managed to get half their forces away – the rest were still fighting off whatever strange _growth _had appeared on their ships.

It had all happened at once. He should have known, when he noticed his power systems being affected. He had called for the expedition team to return everything so far to the science vessel, their first expedition complete and successful.

Then all the specimens, tree-life, plant and animal, everything they had collected, had started to react. In any case, they had landed again – and would not be taking off until they had successfully combated this native life-form attack. Even the ape-things, some of them had managed to get inside, crawling through hatches that should have been closes, and gaps that should have been impassable and screened off.

They were fighting an army.

And this time, not against the zerg, or even the protoss seeking to protect their sacred destiny – but this world itself. Somehow it sensed the connection, and it seemed to be gathering itself, nascent as it was, to defend the source of its strange empowerment.

An experiment by the Xel'Naga long ago, something like this was always slightly terrifying as well as being enormously thrilling, and Stetmann wouldn't miss any of it. Even if it killed him in the process, it was better than letting knowledge go unsought. Maybe the protoss could appreciate it – if they ever had the time after looking down at his corpse. He shuddered and put it out of his mind. He didn't know what a psi blade going through his body would feel like, and he didn't want to find out.

A quick radio transmission amended one thought. The Zerg were indeed making an appearance. He was almost amused for a moment. For once, the Zerg would have an obstacle in their path.

Stetmann and Horner had exchanged a hurried dialogue, and it was determined there was some kind of source for these things, that had stirred them up. Stetmann had immediately turned all his scanners to finding it, while Horner landed his forces to defend what remained of the expedition. Much of it would have to be abandoned.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

THE LIFE EXPERIMENT

* * *

After hours of poring over the surveys, something was discovered at last.

Taking a dropship, Stetmann and his team headed for the co-ordinates.

He found it. Some kind of Xel'Naga device – remarkably discreet. Somehow it had been changing the life on this world. These evolutions _weren't _entirely natural – they made a very foreign biological sense, but it was incongruent with other life in Koprulu.

He didn't know why, or if it was intended – but clearly it was the case. It had manifested some kind of unusual evolutionary experiment here, resulting in dangerous life.

He would have to study it. Already his eyes had lit up, thinking of the research. But that meant they would have to defend it. But hopefully if they shut off whatever was stirring these things up, they could get safely off the planet. And then maybe try again – if the zerg didn't show. But if the zerg did show up, at least they might have gotten something interesting out of this – although it seemed a shame to have to leave such a life-rich world. Weren't too many of those out in this sector, not without some very expensive terraforming, which Stetmann was woefully unprepared to provide for their rescuees.

(*)

Stetmann looked upon it. He had already taken a dozen images with his scanner, and now was holding up a microscopic optical analyser, hoping to make it yield some secrets.

In the temple, life grew, vines dark with heavy water saturation and other elements besides, winding with light that crept through the cracks of this ancient stone place – clearly created by the hands of the protoss, and partially fallen to ruin.

The device they found, however, was untarnished and bright, untouched by those same ages. And the only thing he knew was that it was having an unusual effect on organic life – but so minute as to be almost entirely undetected. His entire team had worn radiation proof suits just in case – and he hoped that would be sufficient for they had little else, or even time, for otherwise.

Was this some kind of ancient Xel'Naga experiment? Sporadically creating new life, in this odd ecological system? No wonder none of it made sense. From an evolutionary point of view, half the life-forms were supposedly impossible. But somehow they had survived long enough to develop some kind of metastasised relationship for unknown advantage. Maybe little more than the relationship quirks that allowed rhynadons and daciosaurs and their tarirubian parasites to get along with each other.

The entire tectonic plate seemed to be suspended by some kind of amazing, concentrated growth beneath it, cushioning the continent with super-heavily concentrated plant-matter. Instead of being crushed to slowly develop into some form of petroleum over millions and billions of years, it had formed a living mattress, like the algae of the sea. The ecology down there must be incredible. Likely massive fungal colonies, somehow feeding themselves through miles of dirt with minimal sunlight. Maybe… maybe none at all, and that's what allowed them to live. What would that be like? It would be choked of oxygen, virtually anything life-sustaining except for water and soil nutrients. That must be enough, or their metabolism was as slow as the planet's.

He'd have to collect samples. If they ever returned to start core drilling teams, he'd be able to.

He remembered the reports from Mar Sara. The civilians had been so grateful to Raynor after liberating that they gave him everything on the artefact dug up there.

Some kind of signal from beneath the surface, none of them knew how or when, but they detected it – and that's how the dig team knew where to go.

It seems planets hid many things beneath the surface, not just metaphorically. Perhaps because it kept them safe from space threats, or the undeveloped indigenous life of the surface, who knew what reasons could be behind it. The Xel'Naga certainly had kept them well hidden, however. It wasn't until the artifacts themselves began… "calling"… out, that the terrans had been able to find them. Even the protoss had never discovered them – and it was the terrans who were the first to obtain them.

Odd that, really. The protoss never seemed to apprise their mission, or stop them out of any concern for it. The one Jim, Jim Raynor, called "Zeratul" (even Stetmann had trouble with their names at times) seemed to simply believe they were all on a quest of some kind, and hadn't bothered them further. Given Raynor that strange mind device, or artefact, and then left. It seemed impossible to Stetmann that he had been unaware – and these were the most powerful Xel'Naga devices discovered to date.

With it, they had been able to reverse the infestation of Kerrigan, something none had accomplished or thought was possible. Scoured every zerg cell from her body, and left her transformed… reverted back to her human form.

Or so they said…

It was still hard to say what changes had become manifest. Was her memory loss a part of it? Did she lose even the memories of being Zerg? Or was the trauma just so overwhelming her system hadn't had time to adjust and absorb it? What would that change be like? It must have been shocking.

Whatever she was, plunged directly back into humanity again – which she had been ably slaughtering mere moments before, and since the beginning of her Zerg mutation.

Fascinating – but also off-limits. Raynor only had so much patience for Stetmann's curiosity in any case. Which didn't offend Stetmann – he knew he went off on a tangent at times. The resistance might have even been good for his research habits – it forced one to be concise.

That's when they discovered the transporter. He knew what it was. Had seen many like it now. And fortunately, knew it would activate with their presence – it cared not if they were terran or protoss.

It seemed there was even more to this.

(*)

A few seconds later, when the light cleared.

"It looks like we were transported into the core of the planet," he said. The atmosphere, pressure and temperature were all surprisingly tolerable. There was an atmosphere generator here, and apparently suitable for human life.

"The safest place they could put it, I suppose, or the most convenient."

There was something here, at the heart of the planet, their scans confirmed.

"They have a tendency to engineer on a large scale, so let's not limit our vision here. It may be this device was designed to do more than just experiment with this world. It may even have something to do with our malfunctioning engines."

"I thought it was the plant things that did that. I saw them gumming up the exhaust takes."

"Hm. Maybe." But Stetmann didn't dismiss the question.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

THE LARGE ENGINEERING

* * *

Six hours later, they were fleeing for their lives.

Marines were backing up into ramps – the evac Raynor promised - firing their gauss rounds at the ape-like figures that swarmed toward them. Most practised against zerg assaults, this was one thing they were at least prepared for – although it was hard to say who could be prepared against overwhelming numbers against a ground position with no fortifications.

Then they toppled as the ground began to quake, and human and strange humanoid alike were tossed about willy-nilly. Stetmann noticed with satisfaction as the ship's blasters came online. The apes had better footing than the marine, but the ship was unfazed by the turmoiled ground, and chased them off with mechanical precision.

Something was emerging from the planet itself. All senses were disoriented, it took several looks, and panicked wonder, before he could even guess as gauging the monolithic sight in the distance. Not merely a few miles high – it must be over the horizon – to see it like that at this distance, it must be _hundreds _of miles high.

This world was larger than most – although its density scans had been unusual. And now they knew why. This hadn't been its original size at all. The Xel'Naga had built some kind of planetary terraformer into its heart – to shift continents, expand the mantle and crust. It must have drawn in asteroid mass – but this system was empty – perhaps there still wasn't enough – or this was where it ended.

He heard Raynor's voice coming in over the comms and he scuttled into the drop-ship, his hands groping for the terminal to call for the evac.

"What the Hell is that?!" he heard Raynor asked.

"No idea sir, but we have to get off the planet." He heard himself reply.

The quaking did not slow, but Stetmann managed to gain a sense of orientation – bit by bit, his crew were getting into their dropships and off the ground. Even that didn't entirely free them, as the air itself buffeted around them – but they were managing the ascent.

Eventually, Stetmann was looking back at the ground with a queer feeling – so much of it displaced. The prison moon New Folsom had taken generations of dedicated mining operations to make into the desolate last end for convicts it was now. This planet had changed shape in a day. Perhaps its programming had not been complete. Perhaps it had simply been waiting for additional mass to enter the system, over thousands of millions of years, and then scooping it up again. And somehow, he had activated it.

The gunships had survived, surprisingly – Jim Raynor would find a small addition to his fleet at least, if he could wrest them away from Mira Han.

The stone glowed in its science pod. That was something different. That had been an agent of life – the two meant to go together. Perhaps it was a defense mechanism he had triggered.

He stared.

It gave him a chill feeling. Like… destiny… but misplaced. Maybe a portent of things to come.

He put down one note… "unsuitable for colonisation"…

THE END.


End file.
